Un diario español, citando fuentes anónimas, dice que La Habana unificará cuatro ministerios y despedirá a 3.000 empleados

lunes 31 de marzo de 2008 18:00:00
El libre acceso a internet como próximo paso

"«A mediados de marzo, destacados periodistas nacionales fueron citados a una reunión en el Centro de Prensa Internacional en la que se pidió su colaboración para preparar a la población sobre los cambios que vienen», señaló una fuente que pidió mantener el anonimato. «Se les informó de la unificación de cuatro ministerios, que provocará el despido de unos 3.000 funcionarios, de la eliminación de la tarjeta blanca (permiso de salida), y de la idea de recuperar a los médicos jubilados —contemplando incluso la apertura de consultas privadas— para paliar la falta de doctores en el sistema de salud cubano», añadió".

"…Ahora que los ordenadores se podrán adquirir sin restricciones, muchos se preguntan si el acceso a internet será otro de los cambios por llegar y el papel que podría desempeñar esa ventana al mundo en Cuba (…) Actualmente, la navegación abierta está restringida a extranjeros, funcionarios y unos pocos cubanos que disponen de CD regrabables y memorias flash, además de cinco euros para gastar en una hora de comunicación en algún hotel o algo más para comprar contraseñas en el mercado negro. Lo normal, incluso en grandes empresas locales, es que sólo unos pocos jefes tengan acceso libre a la web y a enlaces como Yahoo o Google. El resto sólo llegan a navegar por la Red de Cuba o Intranet y al correo electrónico local".

"Sin embargo, pese a estas limitaciones, el cubano acostumbrado a 'resolver' busca soluciones alternativas. Incluso hay 'u' cubanos. Son pocos pero cuelgan sus comentarios desde dentro de la isla. Yoani Sánchez, una filóloga de 32 años, fue una de las pioneras que, además, dio la cara. A su blog 'Generación Y' se llega desde la página 'desdecuba.com'. En menos de un año ha tenido más de un millón de visitantes, pero desde la semana pasada el acceso desde dentro de la isla está bloqueado. La misma suerte corrió 'Potro Salvaje', otro blog más crítico que daba trucos para 'burlar' los programas espías de navegación (…) Según los datos oficiales de 2006, de los once millones de cubanos, 940.000 (el 8,55%), utilizan el correo electrónico y 219.000 (apenas el 1,99%) son usuarios de internet".

El Correo (País Vasco), España
31 de marzo de 2008

Cuestionan 'libertades' impuestas por Raúl Castro

"…Raúl Castro ha optado por reformas que en otros países no tendrían ningún significado político, pero que 49 años de represión y control estatal les otorgan en Cuba un valor simbólico. Celebrada por los defensores del régimen, ridiculizada por sus adversarios, la autorización concedida a los cubanos de acceder a hoteles tradicionalmente reservados a los extranjeros pone en evidencia la necesaria relación entre reformas políticas y modelo económico".

"Durante los últimos ocho días, los cubanos han sido informados sobre tres pequeñas reformas que marcan el inicio de la época post Fidel Castro. En primer lugar, los ciudadanos quedan autorizados a adquirir computadoras (…) Lo mismo se decidió poco después con los teléfonos celulares, cuyo uso estaba restringido por decisión del gobierno. Aunque no se dispone del detalle de 'las nuevas libertades', pocos creen que la 'liberalización' permita a los ciudadanos un acceso libre a internet, a las cadenas de la televisión internacional y a la comunicación libre con el extranjero. En Cuba, todo contacto con extranjeros debe ser notificado a las autoridades del Ministerio del Interior".

"Finalmente, los recepcionistas de los hoteles frecuentados por turistas extranjeros han informados de que en adelante podrán recibir a ciudadanos cubanos entre sus clientes. El tema era vivido por la población como una discriminación de la que eran víctima los nacionales, que debían aceptar que en su propio país sólo los extranjeros podían visitar frecuentar algunos espacios".

"El gobierno cubano no reconoce que el sentido de las reformas es terminar con discriminaciones y les atribuye la motivación de dinamizar la economía, en el caso de los hoteles, la promoción del turismo interno. Pero la realidad del bajo ingreso que recibe la mayoría de los cubanos y la existencia de un sistema de doble moneda (peso y peso convertible), hacen que en las circunstancias actuales, la medida no pase de ser un anuncio simbólico (…) La mayoría de los voceros de la oposición considera que los cambios introducidos por Raúl Castro son puramente formales y no responden a las expectativas de verdaderas reformas políticas…".

Radio Francia Internacional, Francia
31 de marzo de 2008

Intelectuales cubanos celebran su primer congreso en 10 años en un ambiente de cambios

"La Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (Uneac) celebra la próxima semana su VII Congreso, el primero en diez años, que llega marcado por las reivindicaciones de sus miembros y el espíritu de cambios impulsado por el presidente Raúl Castro (…) Miembros consultados por Efe indicaron que los debates previos incluyeron demandas como el acceso a Internet, las condiciones de vida de los artistas, las trabas burocráticas para viajar fuera de la isla y las prohibiciones relacionadas con el acceso a vehículos, computadoras".

"…Uno de los delegados al cónclave, el escritor Leonardo Padura, declaró a Efe que 'Cuba está viviendo un momento en el que se anuncian cambios, se están produciendo, y sobre todo la gente espera más cambios'. 'En esta sociedad cambiante creo que la intelectualidad tiene que tener un papel más activo, porque, tanto a nivel social como cultural, es necesario replantearse algunas proyecciones generales y particulares', apuntó Padura…".

"…A ello suma los problemas de la creación y del acceso al internet, así como las condiciones materiales de vida que confronta el sector como consecuencia del deterioro que ha padecido la economía nacional a partir de la pasada década. 'Como nunca antes la Uneac tiene una responsabilidad no sólo con sus afiliados sino con toda la sociedad cubana en un momento en que se plantea la necesidad de buscar soluciones y mecanismos de perfeccionamiento', subrayó [Padura]. Por su parte, el poeta César López, Premio Nacional de Literatura, destacó que 'hay cosas que prometen mucho'. 'Estamos en un momento de rectificación que viene desarrollándose en cuanto a los temas y conceptos de la cultura que es una sola, aunque existan diferencias entre los creadores que pueden ser ideológicas y el lugar donde radiquen', dijo…".

Yahoo Telemundo, EE UU
31 de marzo de 2008

Telefonía celular masiva en Cuba comenzará en 15 días

The Associated Press

LA HABANA

Las autoridades cubanas informaron que los celulares, cuya venta libre se permitió la semana pasada, podrán ser contratados por la población a partir del 14 de abril.

"En una primera etapa se habilitarán en todo el país unos 30 locales de la Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA), donde también los usuarios podrán adquirir los equipos telefónicos", dijo el viceministro del sector, Ramón Linares.

En una entrevista publicada por el periódico oficial Granma, Linares ofreció detalles sobre la forma en la cual los cubanos tendrán acceso a los móviles, hasta ahora limitados a ciudadanos extranjeros y empresas.

Para los interesados, el precio se mantendrá con la misma tarifa actual, el pago de 111 CUC (unos 120 dólares) para activar la línea y luego el equipo se alimentará mediante tarjetas prepagas vendidas por ETECSA, la firma italiano-cubana con el monopolio del sector.

Linares indicó que lo recaudado mediante este programa más la inversión de la compañía en los últimos años permitirá avanzar en planes para ampliar la cobertura y hasta tener teléfonos inalámbricos pagados en moneda nacional (un peso cubano equivale a 24 dólares) entregado en casos especiales.

Bajo el sistema actual, muchas personas buscaban a sus amigos extranjeros para que les compraran líneas de celulares, mientras otros las conseguían en el mercado negro.

El viceministro indicó también que quienes tengan este tipo de cuentas podrán normalizar su situación firmando un contrato propio. Cuba opera con la norma GSM en la banda de 900 MHZ.

"Desde su creación en 1994, ETECSA ha realizado importantes inversiones en favor de la modernización de las redes. En un primer momento se trabajó por mantener el sistema bajo condiciones extremadamente complejas e ir revirtiendo el deterioro causado por el periodo especial", expresó el funcionario.

Otra de las prioridades para las autoridades en términos de telecomunicaciones será trabajar en la telefonía rural, dijo Linares.

El funcionario indicó que a principio del triunfo de la revolución había 170.000 lineas de teléfono fijo y el 73% de ellas se localizaba en la capital y las ciudades principales.

"La densidad telefónica era de 2,6 equipos por cada 100 habitantes, proporción que hoy hemos quintuplicado, y aún resulta baja", comentó.

Cuba's risky market is no basket case

By David Stevenson
The Financial Times
Published: Mar 29, 2008

Imagine all those welleducated Cubans standing in front of the gates marked "Capitalist Goldrush Starts Here".

Outside sits an army of hot money investors ready to stampede the world's 17th largest island. Fidel Castro has stepped down in favour of brother Raul, with the unstated promise of "liberalisation" at some future point. But there appears to be a hitch or two. The first is that Cuba was, and still is, socialist and does not boast an evil stock market. As hitches go, that is a big one.

The second bigger hitch is that there is not a convincing way of capturing that investment story in a direct way. There is an American mutual fund called the Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, (Cuba) which is a closed-end fund trying to play the Cuban story by investing in stocks of the Caribbean Basin Countries. It is a nice idea but in reality 65 per cent of the fund is invested in US stocks, Florida-based stocks in particular - real estate, infrastructure, media, transport. The problem, apart from the yo-yoing share price, is that the fund does not invest in Cuba as that is against the law in the US. There is also a Canadian company called Leisure Canada, which is active in the hotels and property sector, but information on trading is a bit thin (www.leisurecanada.com).

Sherritt International looks more interesting. It is another Canadian outfit, but boasts a successful mining operation in Cuba and owns a third of Cuban electric utility Energas. It is an impressive outfit but it is not a pure Cuba play as it also boasts big assets in Canada, Madagascar and Spain.

The rest of the very short list of usual suspects includes huge Spanish and Brazilian outfits that do well out of Cuba (Sol Melia, Repsol, Altadis and particularly Petrobas) and some unlikely potentials in the shape of Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean Cruises, which may apparently benefit from more cruises to Florida.

With the exception of Sherritt, I cannot say that any of these shares strike me as an appealing direct play on Cuba, which is a pity because Cuba is no basket case. It has a "sort of" functioning economy that has the real potential to turn into an authoritarian social democratic market state.

Depending on who you talk to, economic growth in Cuba has been chugging along at between 8 and 12 per cent per annum and private sector employment has almost tripled since 1981. There is also a fair bit of resources potential - 59 oil exploration blocks in Cuba's Gulf of Mexico have been made available to foreign partners and there could be as much as 5bn barrels of oil in the zone, although no significant discoveries have been made so far. Cuba also holds vast nickel reserves.

All this should not blind investors to the reality that tourist revenues have been declining and the economy has been running a trade deficit that hit $1.1bn in 2005. Cuba also has lots of debt - there is at least $7.8bn (£3.9bn) active debt (the stuff it is willing to pay) plus a whole load of non-performing debt it has defaulted on.

Great potential, halfdecent economy, but lots of over-powerful socialists, keen to keep a tight control on foreign currency earnings. These bureaucrats can easily ruin an investment overnight, although Cuba's Foreign Investment Act does guarantee the repatriation of profits in freely convertible currency.

So how do we access this promising but risky story? Step forward my latest small discovery in wonderful world of adventurous investing, Ceiba Investments, a Channel Islands-listed offshore fund that has been flying under the radar for the past few years.

As one investor put it "this is the only credible play if you want to invest in this space . . . there's simply no other real choice". It is Barcelona-based but has offices in Cuba, has real, tangible investments on the ground and boasts investment trust SVM Global and hedge fund Value Catalyst as investors. It also takes a novel but risky approach - focusing on large-scale property projects in the business and tourist sector. Investments include a $36m beach hotel about to start construction plus Inmobiliaria Monte Barreto. This joint venture owns the Miramar Trade Centre in Havana, 16 buildings owned in partnership with the Cuban government. This centre is growing and is expected to hit 150,000 m2 although current book value (at cost) is already $135m. There is also a ragbag of other interests that include a new office and apartment block, loan notes to the Cuban Tourist ministry, plus plans for a hotel in Havana, a beach resort on Cayo Largo and a trendy magazine titled H.

You are essentially making a three-to-five year bet on Ceiba's investments - the shares' net-asset value has not moved much in the past few years primarily because the managers have been in development mode.

These projects have potential (the company already pays out a yield of just over 6 per cent per annum) but they could be undone overnight by administrative fiat.

I am also more than a little worried about the relative lack of diversification - I would be happier seeing maybe five or seven big investments including housing projects as well as some service companies with real turnover. Also, there are rumoured to be some global investment banks readying Cuban investment funds and they could snaffle up Ceiba's managers, leaving the fund in the lurch.

But the mismatch between the share price (about€1.15) and the flat NAV (about €0.67) tells you the market believes these property assets are hugely under-valued. Add the possibility that a future US Democratic president could start lifting the embargo in 2009 and the certainty that Ceiba will hit Aim in the not too distant future, and you have a potentially interesting but risky medium-term bet.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Cuba: A country with few (golf) clubs

By David Adams, Latin America Correspondent

Published Saturday, March 29, 2008 8:49 PM

---

HAVANA — In March 1961 tensions between the United States and Cuba were reaching a peak.

So what did Fidel Castro do?

He invited his fellow revolutionary, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, to a relaxing round of golf in an apparent effort to ease the political climate. Of course, the pair couldn't help but thumb their noses at "the sport of the idle rich," stomping around the course in military boots and fatigues.

But the game didn't exactly work out as planned.

Castro lost and relations with Washington went from bad to worse. Before long, golf was virtually wiped off the island.

Now, 47 years later, with Castro out of power, golf may soon make a comeback. Cuban tourism officials are reportedly considering a major investment in new golf courses across the island to boost its sagging tourism industry.

"The message coming from the Cubans is: bring us golf projects," said Mark Entwistle, a former Canadian ambassador to Cuba who represents one investor group.

A dozen golf projects around the island are on the drawing board, he said, each consisting of hundreds of villas and apartments built around the courses.

Cuban tourism officials "crossed the Rubicon of the ideological perception of golf a long time ago," he added. "It's now a priority of tourism development."

• • •

After spurning tourism for decades, Cuba turned to the travel industry in the 1990s to help substitute for its loss of trade with the Soviet Union. Dozens of new hotels were built and the number of visitors rose quickly to 2.3-million by 2005, with revenue of $2-billion.

But tourist visits dropped 4.3 percent in 2006 and were down again last year, the result of complaints about poor service and a low rate of return visits. To halt that slide, Cuba has announced several measures, including adding new boutique hotels, as well as marinas and golf courses.

"They are trying to survive and to survive they have to make money," said Tony Zamora, a Cuban-American attorney with Squire Saunders and Dempsey in Miami, who visits the island regularly and is an expert on Cuban real estate. Cuban officials see the roaring success of golf resorts not far away in the Dominican Republic, which has 3.5-million tourists a year, he said.

Several leading companies in Canada and Europe have drawn up golf proposals in Cuba, including Foster and Partners, one of London's top architecture firms, and Bouygues Batiment, one of France's largest construction firms.

No golf projects have been finalized, although a European group says it is close to signing a contract. A spokeswoman for Foster and Partners said its project in the western province of Pinar del Rio is "on hold."

In the past, foreign companies have balked at Cuba's socialist investment laws. Cuba does not allow foreign companies to have wholly owned operations in Cuba. All foreign investments have to be done under "joint venture agreements," by which foreign companies are allowed only a 49 percent stake.

But Cuba is ready to sweeten the pot, says Zamora, allowing new golf projects to include large apartment projects available to foreign buyers with 75-year leases. This makes it much more attractive to developers who can see bigger returns on their money.

Even so, some analysts say investors are unlikely to sign on the dotted line while the 4-decades-old U.S. trade embargo prevents American tourists from traveling to Cuba.

• • •

Before the revolution, Cuba boasted half a dozen quality courses, including two in Havana designed by the famous U.S. architect Donald Ross, who also laid out the Belleview Biltmore Golf Club in Clearwater.

In their day, the Country Club of Havana and the Havana Biltmore Golf Club were among the top venues for Havana's elite, as well as PGA Tour stars such as Sam Snead and Ben Hogan.

Soon after the revolution, the Country Club course was dug up and turned into a music and arts institute. On a recent day, students played pickup baseball on what clearly was once a wide grassy fairway, as musical notes filled the air from practice rooms. Cups were only recently removed from holes on some surviving greens; mosquitoes were laying eggs in them.

The golf course where Castro and Guevara teed off, Colinas de Villareal, suffered the same fate as all the others and was converted into a military camp.

"These courses are gone forever," said Max Lesnick, a Cuban-American exile radio broadcaster who has personally encouraged Castro to revive golf. "But there's lots of other places where new courses could be built."

During Castro's rule, Cuba has built only one new golf course, located on the Varadero beach resort east of Havana.

Varadero was constructed without foreign investment. It took almost a decade to complete, according to its Canadian architect, Les Furber. "We had lots of false starts," he recalls, recounting how a lack of diesel and credit kept interrupting earth-moving on the site. "We tried to have 25 to 50 trucks working, but sometimes there were only four or five available."

• • •

Skeptics say talk of bringing back golf has gone on for years with little to show for it.

"In Cuba there's no culture of golf," said Orlando Vega, 69, a caddy at the Havana Golf Club, the capital's only surviving course. "Our authorities have other interests."

The nine-hole Havana course survived in large part thanks to the diplomatic community (there are only about 15 to 20 golf-playing Cubans left in Havana, Vega says). The condition of its fairways and greens is uneven at best. Due to theft, the flagsticks are fashioned from tree branches.

Politicians could learn a lot from a good golf swing, he says.

"In politics, the left and right are irreconcilable. In golf your left arm and right arm have to work in harmony."

Castro's swing was clearly not in harmony that day in 1961.

He shot 150 on the par 70 course, losing to Guevara, who shot 127. The headline in the paper the next day read: "I can beat Kennedy easily — Fidel."

U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who was by some accounts one of the best golfers to occupy the White House, clearly was not troubled. Less than three weeks later he launched the Bay of Pigs invasion.

David Adams can be reached at dadams@sptimes.com.

In steps, post-Soviet, post-Fidel Cuba is changing

By MIKE WILLIAMS

Palm Beach Post-Cox News Service

Sunday, March 30, 2008

HAVANA — America Alarcon might teach a trick or two to organic farmers in the United States who want better market share even as they reduce their carbon footprint by cutting back on fuel used to grow and ship their crops.

"Our customers buy their produce directly from our stall, which as you can see is right next to the crops," she says, standing in the midst of her impressive garden. "We are 100 percent organic, using no chemicals or artificial fertilizers. The food tastes so much better. Sometimes we even pick it on demand for the customers."
Alarcon's 2-acre operation, tucked beside a busy thoroughfare in western Havana, is part of Cuba's system of small urban gardens and mini-farms that were developed years ahead of the current "local-vore" movement gaining popularity in other parts of the world.

Concerned by global warming, U.S. and European consumers are switching to locally grown food, some counting the miles the products must be shipped before purchase, hoping to reduce greenhouse gases and support nearby farmers.

In Cuba, urban farms occupy 86,000 acres, producing about 3.4 million tons of produce annually in recent years - about 90 percent of the fresh vegetables for Havana alone.

The origins of the system date to the early 1990s, when Cuba was rocked by the loss of billions of dollars in annual subsidies after the collapse of its longtime communist patron, the Soviet Union.

In the crisis that followed - called "the Special Period" - food became scarce, along with nearly every other basic product, including fuel.

Still, despite the work of the urban farms, Cuba does not produce enough food to feed its people and last year spent $1.6 billion on food imports.

Mindful that Cuban tables are often still scarce of basic food products, Cuba's new president, Raul Castro, who took his ailing brother Fidel's place in late February, is pressing to raise farm production.

The United States is Cuba's top foreign supplier, selling about $437 million in agricultural products to the island last year.

Although the four-decade-old U.S. embargo blocks most American companies from doing business in Cuba, modifications of the law in 2000 allowed for the sale of U.S. food and medicine.

Florida farmers have taken a growing interest in the Cuban market, which is only a few hundred miles away from major ports in Riviera Beach, Tampa and Miami.

Over the past few years, Florida cattle ranchers have shipped about 1,000 head of cattle to Cuba.

But the long-simmering tensions between Castro's communist Cuba and Cuban exiles remain a factor in the politics surrounding the shipments. Cuban exile leaders believe the U.S. food shipments help prop up the repressive Cuban regime, although in recent years a growing number of lawmakers from farm states have been pressing for a wider opening for U.S. products in Cuba.

In the post-Soviet period, the Cuban government turned to the small urban farms to produce more food and get it to market faster and cheaper.

"Before the Special Period, most of the vegetables consumed in Havana came from 50 miles or more away," said Fernando Morrell Macaya, head of Havana's Association of Farmworkers and Foresters.

"We lost a high percentage of the produce during transportation," he said. "Now everything is produced near the consumers. We are direct to the table."

Incentives for farmers

The crop yields from large state-controlled farms and co-ops are often lackluster.

In a 2006 article, the Communist Party newspaper Granma criticized the farm industry as "marked by subjective management deficiencies (and) a decline in labor productivity and also in the average hours worked."

In the past year, Raul Castro has raised pay for farmworkers, sped up payments to farmers, raised the price for milk and exhorted growers to put more land into cultivation.

Urban farms have become even more important because their produce is available without the high transportation costs for crops raised in the countryside.

The urban farms are a patchwork of state-run and privately held operations. The private farmers are granted "usage permits" from the Cuban government allowing them to farm the land, typically up to 5 acres.

At a state-run 5-acre farm in the suburb of Playa in western Havana, about 30 workers toiled recently over carefully tended rows of carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and other vegetables.

"We have 24 different crops, and we are strictly organic, with no chemicals," said Pablo Frias, the farm's manager. "Our workers make about twice as much as doctors are paid in Cuba."

On another individually run spread nearby, Pedro Gonzalez, 55, has increased production about 50 percent over the past two years by using improved seeds, increased rotation and by planting every last inch of his farm.

"If I grow more, I make more," he said. "That helps the state because more is produced. And I am not keeping all the profits. I sell food at low cost to three schools and two day-care centers, supplying all the vegetables for 850 students each day."

Asked whether he fears a greater influx of U.S. farm products should tensions between the countries ease, Gonzalez was confident he could compete.

"They would have to pay their packing and shipping costs," he said, "so I know I could beat their price."

Cuba's search for oil raises alarms in U.S.

March 25, 2008

HAVANA - Imagine oil rigs drilling in deep waters just 60 kilometres off the coast of South Florida. Refineries process the oil in Cuba and sell it across the Caribbean and beyond. Canadian and Mexican companies supply billions of dollars in equipment and services.

This could happen, as Havana invites foreign companies to explore its probable oil and natural gas reserves while Washington's embargo against the Communist-led island keeps U.S. companies locked out.

There are precedents for large and growing Canadian roles in Cuban industry.

Toronto-based Sherritt International Corp. is the largest current foreign investor in Cuba. Company operations on the island produce large volumes of oil, natural gas, nickel, cobalt and electrical power.

Montreal's Pebercan Inc. also produces oil in Cuba, although on a smaller scale than Sherritt, and recently announced a fresh drilling success.

Fidel Castro's government sent a delegation to Alberta in the mid-1990s, with an open invitation for the province's oil industry to expand in Cuba.

But few takers stepped forward. At the time, Alberta companies that exported oil and natural gas to the United States said they did not want to risk running afoul of American economic sanctions against trade with Cuba.

But in light of the ailing revolutionary leader's recent handover of power to his brother Raoul, South Florida is watching closely for potential new foreign involvement in Cuba's oil industry, amid debate over drilling near the American state's shores and concerns over U.S. energy policy. Oil companies increasingly seek to tap Cuba's deepwater reserves, now that oil prices are soaring and profits more likely.

"In 34 years following Cuba, I've never seen an issue like this -- so strategically important to the United States," said Kirby Jones, president of Washington-based Alamar Associates, who advises U.S. companies on Cuba and opposes the U.S. embargo.

Cuba is courting oil investors to slash its dependence on foreign fuels. The cash-strapped island can't afford to import all it needs, especially with today's oil prices topping $100 US a barrel. The island long relied on the Soviet Union for subsidized oil and now depends on cheap supply from Venezuela that it pays for with services from its doctors and other professionals.

Havana began opening to foreign investment in the early 1990s after the loss of Soviet aid, and now produces almost half the oil and natural gas it consumes. It drills mainly heavy crude on or near shore with Canadian firms' help.

But the big prize lies in deepwater reservoirs miles off the north shore in the Gulf of Mexico. By some estimates, the area holds nearly as much oil and natural gas as the coveted U.S. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska -- enough to meet Cuban demand for years.

Havana is forging deals with companies from Norway, Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Spain and other nations to explore dozens of its 59 deepwater blocks. Brazil's president visited in January to seal contracts for Petrobras, the global leader in deepwater drilling.

Experts say it will take several more years, and hundreds of millions of dollars, for the companies to figure out where to drill in waters often 11/2 kilometres deep.

But if the pieces fall into place, offshore rigs could be working by 2012 not far from South Florida, said Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, a Cuba energy specialist at the University of Nebraska in

Omaha who has visited the island many times.

"Cuba also could become a trans-shipment point for oil, refined products and exports for the region," Benjamin-Alvarado said.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., aims to head off those possibilities and keep drilling far from Florida shores. In a long-shot move, he seeks to scrap a 31-year-old accord that splits the 144 kilometres of water between the United States and Cuba and to redraw the borders.

"Soon, there could be oil rigs within 50 miles (80 kilometres) of the Florida Keys and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary," Nelson wrote the Bush administration in late January, after Brazil's president met Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

"And, as the Gulf Stream flows, an oil spill or other drilling accident would desecrate part of Florida's unique environment and devastate its $50-billion tourism-driven economy."

Today, U.S. companies are the only ones banned from Cuba, under terms of Washington's 45-year embargo. All other nations trade with the island, the Caribbean's largest.

The American Petroleum Institute, representing U.S. oil industry companies, has long rejected U.S. go-it-alone sanctions, like the embargo on Cuba. It seeks greater access to oil reserves worldwide, said a spokeswoman in Washington.

Recent events in Venezuela have raised concerns about how long President Hugo Chavez can keep up oil largesse to Cuba, now estimated to top $2 billion a year.

Cubans worry that if Venezuela cuts off cheap oil, they will suffer widespread blackouts like they did after the Soviet Union halted oil aid in the early 1990s. Back then, with fuel in short supply and cash tight, lights went out up to 16 hours a day, and bicycles often replaced cars.

Cuba still faces hurdles to exploit its huge north basin reserves, estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey at 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels of oil and nearly one trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Deepwater rigs are in short supply worldwide and expensive to use -- sometimes $200,000 a day or more. Companies in Cuban waters also may be banned from using some cutting-edge U.S. technology because of the U.S. embargo. Older technologies could make exploration more expensive, said Benjamin-Alvarado.

As plans proceed, analysts are figuring out which U.S. companies stand to lose the most.

Big U.S. oil producers likely won't be shut out permanently, said Jorge Pinon, former president of Amoco Latin America and now an energy fellow at the University of Miami's Center for Hemispheric Policy.

© The Edmonton Journal 2008

U.S. shifting funds away from Miami anti-Castro groups

Posted on Sun, Mar. 30, 2008 BY PABLO BACHELET The Bush administration is undertaking a major do-over of the controversial Cuba democracy grants, restricting the funds available for anti-Castro groups in Miami and sending more resources to non-U.S. international advocacy organizations, officials and others familiar with the programs say. The new orientation, which has sent tremors of uncertainty among many grant recipients in South Florida, comes as the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development prepare to award a record $45.7 million in Cuba democracy grants this year -- more than triple the 2007 levels. The money aims to bring about a transition to democracy in Cuba, but the programs have long faced allegations they favor more Cuban Americans in Miami than people on the island. On Friday, a White House aide resigned amid allegations of misusing program money when he worked for one of the Cuban-American groups. The funds are to be awarded via competitive bids and officials are urging Eastern European and Latin American groups to apply. The administration is especially eager for proposals that would provide communications technologies to activists in Cuba. Officials say Internet access, YouTube videos and cellphone text messages propelled movements to challenge governments in places like Tibet and Burma. Access to these technologies is restricted by the communist government, although on Friday, Havana announced cellphones would be made more widely available. Earlier, the government has also said computers would be sold to all Cubans. ''We are not . . . excluding anybody from the process,'' said José Cárdenas, the deputy assistant administrator for South America and Cuba at USAID, ``but with the tremendously escalated resources, definitely we want new participants in the program. ''We would love to see more former East European bloc groups and individuals,'' he added, ``and we would love to see more private interest and activity from Latin America.'' Until now, the bulk of the grants have been funnelled through Miami groups. Critics said the programs placated Cuban-American groups but did little to bring democracy to Cuba. Havana routinely calls Cuban recipients of U.S. aid programs ``mercenaries of the empire.'' A November 2006 report by the Government Accountability Office criticized USAID for providing $74 million in grants since 1996 without competitive bids. The GAO also found some instances of abuse, including using grant money to purchase game consoles and cashmere sweaters. And on Friday, the White House announced Felipe Sixto, its top liaison with the Cuban-American community, resigned over allegations he may have improperly obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money at a previous job with the Washington-based Center for a Free Cuba. But supporters of the programs say the GAO report also found programs delivered vast quantities of communications equipment and other supplies to dissidents on the island. The increase in resources for Cuban democracy grants was easily approved by Congress last year. Officials say Miami-based organizations will now need to show they can provide training, equipment and other resources to groups on the island. ''We want to see an impact in Cuba not somewhere in the United States,'' said one official who helped craft the new guidelines and agreed to speak candidly provided he was not quoted by name. The goal is to empower Cubans to operate independently of the communist system, which controls everything from access to the mass media to jobs. With Fidel Castro retired, his brother and successor Raúl Castro has taken some timid steps toward debate and reforms, though Cárdenas said the country was still ''tightly controlled'' by the government. U.S. officials say Washington-based advocacy organizations like Freedom House, International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) will also be favored by the new guidelines because they have longstanding links with foreign pro-democracy groups. Some money already has been provided to groups like the Czech advocacy group People In Need. European and Latin American activists have an easier time entering Cuba than U.S. citizens. Paul Fagan, the head of IRI's Latin American programs, says his group often uses Latin Americans to conduct training seminars for Cuban activists, and is looking to set up Cuba programs with Baltic states like Latvia. According to 2008 State Department budget documents, $33.7 million is to support civil society groups in Cuba, $5 million will support ''rule of law and human rights'' and $7 million is for ``political competition and consensus-building.'' The change in orientation has caused uncertainty among grant recipients in Miami, especially among academic programs that do not deal directly with civil society groups in Cuba. Jaime Suchlicki says he will keep running his Cuba Transition Project, a unit of the Institute of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, regardless of what the U.S. government does. ''CTP is not going to end, whether we get funding or not,'' said Suchlicki, a historian and longtime head of the institute. USAID provided $500,000 annually to fund seven researchers focusing on a post-Castro Cuba. Late last year, USAID said the program would not be renewed, though Suchlicki plans to reapply for a grant this year. Frank Calzón, the head of the Center for a Free Cuba, said his USAID program ended recently but he had enough funds to keep going until the guidelines become clear. The center provides assistance and equipment to dissidents on the island, and works with international human rights organizations and foreign governments to raise awareness on abuses in Cuba. Calzón said programs are evolving over time. ''There are other tools, there are other instruments,'' he said. ``Now, there are people in Europe, in Latin America who want to help the Cuban people by sending books, by going to the island.''

U.S. changes Cuba-group funding policy

Published: March 31, 2008 at 1:19 AM

WASHINGTON, March 31 (UPI) -- The White House is retooling its policy on funding groups promoting democracy in Cuba by offering more grants to international groups, officials said.

The decision to offer funds to groups outside the traditional anti-Castro organizations in Miami and Washington follows last week's resignation of former White House liaison to the Cuban-American community Felipe Sixto, who was accused of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars while working for the Centers for a Free Cuba, based in Washington.

The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development are preparing to award a record $45.7 million in Cuba democracy grants this year, more than triple the amount allotted in 2007, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.

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Cuba loosens controls on hotels

The Cuban government has lifted a ban on its citizens staying in hotels previously reserved for foreigners, hotel staff say.

It is the latest reform announced under new President Raul Castro.

Last week, the state said Cubans would be allowed unrestricted access to mobile phones for the first time.

The new Cuban hotel guests, like the foreign tourists, will have to pay in hard currency - on an island where the average wage is about $17 (£9) a month.

Correspondents say the ban on Cuban nationals using hotels - often described as "economic apartheid" - has been a source of frustration for local people since the Communist island opened up to tourism in the 1990s.

Hotel employees, at locations such as Havana's Nacional, said unofficially that they had been told by officials that Cubans would be allowed to stay in hotels across the island from midnight on Monday (0400 GMT Tuesday).

They will also be able to hire cars from state-run agencies, say reports.

Raul's reforms

Raul Castro has introduced a number of reforms since he was selected as president in February, after the retirement of his ailing brother Fidel.

The sale of computers, microwaves and DVD players has been opened up to local people - previously they had only been sold to companies and foreigners.

On Friday, state telecom monopoly ETECSA said it would start offering mobile services to the public. Some Cubans already own mobile phones but they have had to acquire them via a third party, often foreigners.

Cubans will be able to subscribe to pre-paid mobile services under their own names.

Again, the new service must be paid for in foreign currency, so many of the reforms will only benefit wealthier Cubans.

Most Cubans are estimated to earn between 400 non-convertible (Cuban) pesos (eg a factory worker), to about 700 (eg a professional) - the equivalent of between $17 and $30, or £9 and £15.

Non-convertible pesos are good for buying the subsidised official rations of rice, cooking oil and other perishable goods.

Tight restrictions remain in place on internet access in homes and on foreign travel.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7322739.stm

Published: 2008/03/31 14:25:04 GMT

Cubans to be allowed to buy mobile phones

Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent
The Guardian,
Saturday March 29 2008

This article appeared in the Guardian on Saturday March 29 2008 on p20 of the International section. It was last updated at 00:13 on March 29 2008.

It did not quite answer calls for freedom and change, but the reform announced yesterday did at least offer freedom from change for calls.

Cuba's government lifted restrictions on the ownership and use of mobile phones, marking a small but significant step away from the Fidel Castro era.

A decree published in the Communist party newspaper, Granma, said the public could have prepaid contracts for mobile phones, a luxury previously reserved for senior party officials and employees of foreign companies.

The decision means less fumbling for change for pay phones and raised hopes that the new president, Raúl Castro, would relax other economic and political controls.

Cuba's telecommunications monopoly, Etesca, made the announcement in a small insert on page two of Granma. "Etesca is able to offer mobile phone service to the public," it said.

Contracts will have to be paid for in Cuban convertible pesos, a parallel currency geared towards tourists and foreigners worth 24 times the peso used by most Cubans.

Few will initially be able to afford the opportunity - there was no scramble for mobile phones yesterday - but the decree was welcomed as evidence that the authorities were serious about addressing longstanding grievances.

"This shows there is a change in mentality at the top and recognition that Cuba has to move into the 21st century," a young computer technician, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Some Cubans have a mobile phone service in the name of foreigners or their companies, but the island still has the lowest mobile phone use in Latin America.

Etesca, which operates as a joint venture with the Italian communications company Italcom, said it would invest revenues in improving its network and eventually offer a mobile phone service in the commonly held pesos.

"In coming days the population will be informed about the procedures for changing the title of Cuban citizens who until today have acquired [mobile phones] indirectly and the start of the new contracts for natural-born Cubans who are interested," the statement said.

Since the ailing Fidel resigned last month, Raúl, 76, has made cautious efforts to ease the material hardships which make daily life a grind and erode confidence in the government. The new president, who is deemed less ideological than his charismatic brother, has promised to focus on competence and service delivery and to reduce bureaucracy.

Cuba Lifts Restrictions On Personal Cellphones

Devices Offer New Conduit For Exchange of Information

By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 29, 2008; A08

MEXICO CITY, March 28 -- Cuban President Ra¿l Castro lifted much-loathed restrictions on personal cellphone ownership Friday, a move that could increase the flow of political ideas and news to the isolated and information-starved island nation.

The decision, announced in an understated manner on Page 2 of the Communist Party daily Granma, adds to an array of developments that indicate that Castro, 76, is beginning to reshape day-to-day life in the Western Hemisphere's last communist outpost after decades of working in the shadow of his older brother, Fidel.

Since succeeding his ailing brother Feb. 24, Ra¿l Castro has set about legalizing products and services that Cubans have been forced to acquire through stealth and guile on the black market. Besides lifting the cellphone restrictions, Castro has quietly ended a ban on personal purchases of some electronic items, including computers, video players, all sizes of televisions, pressure cookers, electric rice cookers, electric bicycles and car alarms.

The ban will be lifted Tuesday, according to a commerce ministry resolution that has not been mentioned in the state-run media. There are unconfirmed reports that Castro also has erased efficiency-sapping rules that forced farmers to buy materials at state-run stores and required medical patients to pick up prescriptions at inconveniently located pharmacies.

Cubans formed long lines Friday outside cellphone stores. Until now, only top government officials and foreigners had been permitted to legally own the devices. But thousands of Cubans have long skirted the rule by persuading foreigners or corrupt government officials to sign cellphone contracts on their behalf. It was tolerated by the Cuban government and was common for Cubans to chat openly on phones acquired on the black market. Even the omnipresent state police seemed to turn a blind eye.

"This could have a massive impact," Manuel Cuesta, a Cuban dissident, said in a telephone interview from Havana. "It opens the possibility for more contact with foreigners, for more text messaging, for a culture of mass communication. You can almost publish a newspaper with messages sent over cellphones."

But Cuesta cautioned against interpreting the decision too broadly. The rule change, he said, does nothing to address limits on free speech and foreign travel, rigid prohibitions on the ownership and sale of private property, or bans on most forms of private enterprise.

"This is not going to affect in any way the total control that the government has," Cuesta said. "This is a small step toward liberalization."

Cubans have been tantalized with prospects for change in recent days. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe P¿rez Roque said last week that the government was considering ending restrictions on foreign travel. The government denies most Cubans permission to leave the island and discourages travel by imposing high exit-visa fees. Castro's daughter Mariela Castro Esp¿n told the Associated Press in Rome this week that Cuba should abolish travel restrictions, end a ban on Cuban citizens staying at the island's best tourist hotels and guarantee computer access.

"The prohibitions have been necessary, but recently the conditions have begun to exist to eliminate them," Castro Esp¿n said.

But strict government control of information still reigns. Cuba's best-known blogger, Yoani S¿nchez, alleged this week that the government blocked access to her blog, which is written in Havana and posted to a Web site registered outside Cuba. Most Cubans do not have access to the Internet in their homes or offices, but they can pay to go online at a few state-run centers, where many popular sites such as Yahoo and Google are blocked.

Cuban officials blame many of the island's restrictions on the U.S. trade embargo, saying their ability to provide a myriad of services is hampered by the limited access to undersea Internet lines, phone equipment and other key materials. U.S. laws discourage companies doing business in Cuba from accessing the U.S. market.

Friday's decision is likely to increase the number of Cubans who have cellphones, allowing islanders who were afraid to break the ownership rule to have access to the service, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a dissident economist, said in a telephone interview from Havana. "This ends the fiction of the ban," he said. "There's a bit of rationality in this decision."

It costs the equivalent of $119 to start service and $64 for the least expensive phone, a hefty price for state workers who earn the equivalent of as little as $13 a month.

"If it's not affordable, it's only going to be available to people who have a lot of money," said Eduardo, a construction worker who declined to give his last name, in line outside a cellphone store.

Other Cubans seemed to be reveling in a new sense of freedom and independence. "Now we're not going to have to be dependent on foreigners," a woman, who gave her name only as Gisela, said outside a cellphone store. "This is not a luxury. If my mother falls ill, now she'll be able to call me."

Cuba has had cellphone service since 1991. The service is provided by a state-owned company, ETESCA, which is partly owned by the Italian telephone conglomerate, Telecom Italia.

A Washington Post special correspondent in Havana contributed to this report.

Cyber-Rebels in Cuba Defy State’s Limits

March 6, 2008

The New York Times

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

HAVANA — A growing underground network of young people armed with computer memory sticks, digital cameras and clandestine Internet hookups has been mounting some challenges to the Cuban government in recent months, spreading news that the official state media try to suppress.

Last month, students at a prestigious computer science university videotaped an ugly confrontation they had with Ricardo Alarcón, the president of the National Assembly.

Mr. Alarcón seemed flummoxed when students grilled him on why they could not travel abroad, stay at hotels, earn better wages or use search engines like Google. The video spread like wildfire through Havana, passed from person to person, and seriously damaged Mr. Alarcón’s reputation in some circles.

Something similar happened in late January when officials tried to impose a tax on the tips and wages of employees of foreign companies. Workers erupted in jeers and shouts when told about the new tax, a moment caught on a cellphone camera and passed along by memory sticks.

“It passes from flash drive to flash drive,” said Ariel, 33, a computer programmer, who, like almost everyone else interviewed for this article, asked that his last name not be used for fear of political persecution. “This is going to get out of the government’s hands because the technology is moving so rapidly.”

Cuban officials have long limited the public’s access to the Internet and digital videos, tearing down unauthorized satellite dishes and keeping down the number of Internet cafes open to Cubans. Only one Internet cafe remains open in Old Havana, down from three a few years ago.

Hidden in a small room in the depths of the Capitol building, the state-owned cafe charges a third of the average Cuban’s monthly salary — about $5 — to use a computer for an hour. The other two former Internet cafes in central Havana have been converted into “postal services” that let Cubans send e-mail messages over a closed network on the island with no links to the Internet.

“It’s a sort of telegraph service,” said one young man, shrugging as he waited in line to use the computers at a former Internet cafe on O’Reilly Street.

Yet the government’s attempts to control access are increasingly ineffective. Young people here say there is a thriving black market giving thousands of people an underground connection to the world outside the Communist country.

People who have smuggled in satellite dishes provide illegal connections to the Internet for a fee or download movies to sell on discs. Others exploit the connections to the Web of foreign businesses and state-run enterprises. Employees with the ability to connect to the Internet often sell their passwords and identification numbers for use in the middle of the night.

Hotels catering to tourists provide Internet services, and Cubans also exploit those conduits to the Web.

Even the country’s top computer science school, the University of Information Sciences, set in a campus once used by Cuba’s spy services, has become a hotbed of cyber-rebels. Students download everything from the latest American television shows to articles and videos criticizing the government, and pass them quickly around the island.

“There is a whole underground market of this stuff,” Ariel said.

The video of Mr. Alarcón’s clash with students was leaked to the BBC and CNN, giving the world a rare glimpse of the discontent among the young with the system. His answers to the questions seemed evasive. Asked about the ban on travel, Mr. Alarcón suggested that if everyone who wished to were allowed to travel, there would not be enough airspace for the planes.

Another event many people witnessed through the digital underground was the arrival in the United States of Carlos Otero, a popular television personality and humorist in Cuba who defected in December while on a trip to Toronto.

Illegal antennas caught signals from Miami television stations, which youths turned into digital videos and shared. Though the event smacked more of celebrity news than politics, it would never have been shown on the official media.

Some young journalists have also started blogs and Internet news sites, using servers in other countries, and their reports are reaching people through the digital underground.

Yoani Sánchez, 32, and her husband, Reinaldo Escobar, 60, established Consenso desde Cuba , a Web site based in Germany. Ms. Sánchez has attracted a considerable following with her blog, Generación Y, in which she has artfully written gentle critiques of the government by describing her daily life in Cuba. Ms. Sánchez and her husband said they believed strongly in using their names with articles despite the possible political repercussions.

Shortly before Raúl Castro was elected president last week to replace his ailing brother, Fidel, Ms. Sánchez wrote a piece describing what sort of president she wanted. She said the country did not need a soldier, a charismatic leader or a great speaker, but “a pragmatic housewife” who favored freedom of speech and open elections.

Writing later about Raúl Castro’s first speech as president, she criticized his vague promises of change, saying they were as clear as the Rosetta Stone was when it was first found. Both essays would be impossible to publish in Cuba.

“The Internet has become the only terrain that is not regulated,” she said in an interview.

Because Ms. Sánchez, like most Cubans, can get online for only a few minutes at a time, she writes almost all her essays beforehand, then goes to the one Internet cafe, signs on, updates her Web site, copies some key pages that interest her and walks out with everything on a memory stick. Friends copy the information, and it passes from hand to hand. “It’s a solid underground,” she said. “The government cannot control the information.”

It is spread by readers like Ricardo, 28, a philosophy student at the University of Havana who sells memory sticks to other students. European friends buy blank flash drives, and others carry them into Cuba, where the drives available through normal channels are very expensive and scarce.

Like many young Cubans, Ricardo plays a game of cat and mouse with the authorities. He doubts that the government will ever let ordinary citizens have access to the Internet in their homes. “That’s far too dangerous,” he said. “Daddy State doesn’t want you to get informed, so it preventively keeps you from surfing.”

Pedro, a midlevel official with a government agency, said he often surfed Web sites like the BBC and The Miami Herald at work, searching for another view of the news besides the ones presented in the state-controlled media. He predicted that the 10,000 students studying the Internet and programming at the University of Information Sciences would transform the country over time, opening up more and more avenues of information.

“We are training an army of information specialists,” he said.

Bertone en Cuba, tras la renuncia de Fidel

Firmado por Aceprensa
Fecha: 22 Febrero 2008

El cardenal Secretario de Estado el Vaticano Tarcisio Bertone ha viajado a Cuba en un viaje previsto en su agenda desde hace tiempo, pero imprevisto en su repercusión. Y es que en la víspera de su partida hacia la isla, inesperadamente, Fidel Castro anunciaba su renuncia a la jefatura del estado, que ha ocupado durante casi medio siglo.

Esta es la razón por la que la visita de Bertone a Cuba –cuyo motivo no era otro que recordar la visita de Juan Pablo II a la isla hace diez años– adquiere una relevancia especial y ha tenido abundante eco en la prensa internacional.

El cardenal llevó a los obispos de Cuba una carta del Santo Padre Benedicto XVI en la que el pontífice escribe que “el anuncio del Evangelio de Cristo sigue encontrando en Cuba corazones bien dispuestos para acogerlo, lo que conlleva una responsabilidad constante para ayudarles a crecer en la vida espiritual, proponiéndoles ese alto grado de la vida cristiana ordinaria propio de la vocación a la santidad de todo bautizado”. En otro punto de su carta, el Papa alienta a que la iglesia de Cuba continúe su labor “en favor de los más necesitados, con obras concretas de servicio y atención a los hombres y mujeres de cualquier condición, que merecen ser sostenidos no sólo en sus necesidades materiales, sino acogidos con afecto y comprensión”.

Al comentar el viaje, la mayoría de los diarios se refieren a lo emblemático de la Santa Misa que celebró el cardenal en la catedral de La Habana el día 21 de febrero y que fue emitida por la televisión cubana. El corresponsal de El País recuerda que “este raro privilegio de hablar en vivo y sin cortapisas a las masas desde la televisión estatal lo tuvo el papa Juan Pablo II, en 1998, el ex presidente Jimmy Carter, dos años después, y pocos más”. En el plan previsto por el jefe de la diplomacia vaticana destaca la cena que ofrecerá a las autoridades cubanas en la sede de la nunciatura: seguramente será esta la primera visita de un representante extranjero al nuevo líder de gobierno cubano.

Para el ABC, la Iglesia puede representar un papel relevante en el proceso de cambio que iniciará Cuba tras la renuncia de Castro. En un editorial del 22 de enero, recuerda “que la Iglesia ha desempeñado un papel determinante en muchos países del este de Europa en el largo y complejo proceso de transición hacia el pluralismo democrático”. Del mismo modo, la Iglesia católica ”podría contribuir a suavizar tensiones en Cuba, cuya tradición histórica y cultural sigue vigente a pesar de tanto tiempo de represión”.

El New York Times habla de la posibilidad de una próxima visita del Papa a Cuba. Destaca en este sentido que, según dijo Bertone en la Misa al aire libre en la capital, Fidel invitó al Papa Benedicto XVI a visitar la isla en 2005. En palabras de este mismo rotativo, las palabras de Bertone llevaron al arzobispo de La Habana, Jaime Ortega, a preguntarle sobre ese presunto viaje del Papa a Cuba y para renovar su invitación al Pontífice: “el Santo Padre escuchará esta misma noche su invitación” aseguró Bertone, confiando en que pueda realizarse pronto.

En Italia, La Stampa recoge en un artículo de Filippo Di Giacomo, una reflexión sobre el lugar ocupado por los católicos en Cuba. Afirma que “en las últimas décadas han asumido una identidad social creíble y reconocida, encarnándose en una realidad histórico-política en evolución. La iglesia de Cuba -sigue diciendo Di Giacomo- ha conseguido mantenerse en la pobreza, sin ambicionar ninguna forma de poder, haciéndose presente con una clara vocación de paz”. Para el articulista de La Stampa, con esta actitud han logrado crear una tupida red de iniciativas a través de la cual “los católicos mantienen una fuerte atención sobre los problemas sociales y los temas sensibles como la economía, la escasa actitud democrática de las instituciones y la constante limitación de la libertad individual”.

Desde la visita de Juan Pablo II a la isla, hace ahora diez años, el número de los católicos en Cuba está creciendo, según muestran las estadísticas. La última edición del Anuario Pontificio (2007) revela que en este país de más de once millones de habitantes, el 59,66% son católicos. En los últimos años los datos muestran una evolución positiva: en 2007 había 200 sacerdotes diocesanos (169 en el de 2001), 145 sacerdotes religiosos (134 en 2001), 60 diáconos permanentes (52 en 2001), 37 religiosos no sacerdotes (28 en 2001), 642 religiosas (546 en 2001), 1.800 misioneros laicos (520 en 2001).

Muchos de los que van a Misa hoy en día en Cuba son fieles que han regresado a la Iglesia o que han decidido bautizarse en el último decenio, después de la visita de Juan Pablo II.

En una nueva señal de apertura, autorizan el uso de celulares a todos los cubanos

EL Clarin, Buenos Aires
28 de Marzo del 2008

Raúl Castro liberó la telefonía móvil en la isla, hasta ahora restringido a extranjeros y funcionarios. El gobierno ya había levantado la veda a la venta y compra de televisores, computadoras y Dvd.

Por: Clarín.com

El nuevo presidente cubano, Raúl Castro, anunció hoy que autorizará el servicio de teléfonos móviles a los cubanos, hasta ahora solo facilitado a empresas, funcionarios del Gobierno y extranjeros, según una nota divulgada por la empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA).

Esta es la segunda reforma gubernamental anunciada desde que Raúl Castro asumió la presidencia de la isla el pasado 24 de febrero pasado, luego que dio luz verde a la venta libre a partir del próximo 1 de abril de varios artículos electrónicos, como computadoras, equipos de reproducción de video y televisores.

La nota de ETECSA publicada por varios medios locales informó de que está "en condiciones de ofrecer a la población el servicio de telefonía celular que se formalizará mediante contrato personal en la modalidad de prepago", pero no precisó la fecha de su entrada en vigor.

El periódico Granma, que publicó hoy la nota, subrayó que el Ministerio de la Informática y las Comunicaciones de la isla emitirá las regulaciones que aseguren la puesta en marcha y el control del nuevo programa "de manera ordenada y progresiva". ETECSA indicó que el nuevo servicio se ofrecerá en pesos convertibles cubanos (CUC), 24 veces superior en valor al peso cubano, y que circula a la par en la isla. La empresa de telefonía de la isla explicó que el pago en CUC "permitirá sufragar el desarrollo de la conectividad por cable que tiene un importante papel en la informatización de la sociedad" y que además "facilitará la introducción de nuevos servicios telefónicos en moneda nacional".

También explicó que las inversiones "serán posibles por la obtención de créditos y tecnologías con países amigos". Asimismo subrayó que en los próximos días se informará de los procedimientos para cambiar la titularidad de los ciudadanos cubanos que han adquirido teléfonos móviles "por vía indirecta", es decir, por un contrato que esté a nombre de una empresa o un ciudadano extranjero, además del inicio de los nuevos contratos a las personas naturales cubanas interesadas.

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2008/03/28/um/m-01638242.htm

Cuba cuts red tape in prescription drug sales

Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:57pm EDT

By Rosa Tania Valdes

HAVANA, March 25 (Reuters) - Cuba has lifted a rule that forced people to pick up prescription drugs from a pharmacy assigned by the state, adding to steps by President Raul Castro to cut excessive regulation in the Communist country.

Public health sources said on Tuesday that Cubans can now buy prescription drugs at any pharmacy.

Until now, they had to fill prescriptions at a single pharmacy attached to hospitals or local clinics, a bureaucratic measure introduced during a severe crisis in the 1990s when resources were scarce due to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"People used to have to go to our pharmacy and if there wasn't the right medicine or it would take a while to make, they would have to come back even if they lived far away," said Maribel, a Havana doctor. "Now they can go wherever without getting new prescriptions or having to travel long distances."

The restriction was unpopular and Raul Castro has set about eliminating some of the "excessive regulations" governing all aspects of Cuban society since he took office as president last month.

"There were lots of complaints. The authorities want people to be happy," said a Havana pharmacy manager, who did not want to be named because she was not authorized to speak to a reporter.

Raul Castro took over as president on Feb. 24, ending 49 years of rule by his elder brother Fidel Castro, who has failed to fully recover from intestinal surgery that sidelined him in July 2006.

"In the next few weeks, we shall start removing the most simple excessive regulations and prohibitions," Raul Castro said in his first speech as president.

Next week, computers, DVD players and other electronic equipment will go on sale for the general public for the first time since the energy crisis of the 1990s. Until now, only companies could purchase them.

Last week, the government began opening stores where farmers for the first time can buy some supplies without waiting for the state to assign them.

And local sources say Cubans may soon be allowed to buy cell phones and stay in tourist hotels where they have been barred for decades. (Editing by Kieran Murray)

Entrevista al Presidente de la República de Cuba, en vísperas de su investidura

martes 25 de marzo de 2008 13:51:55

Jorge Ferrer

Quejoso de tantos males, el exilio cubano padece también de la patología de la memoria. Una enfermedad que conoce dos terapias extremas: el olvido más radical o la sublimación del pasado.

Hay, por ejemplo, cubanos que reivindican la legitimidad que emanaría de la Constitución de 1940 y actúan en consecuencia. Es el caso del Dr. Rodolfo Nodal Tarafa, quien será investido el próximo sábado Presidente Constitucional de la República de Cuba en ceremonia a celebrarse en Ybor City, referencia martiana obliga.

He querido ofrecer a los lectores de El Tono de la Voz la palabra de quien preside la República según ese rito continuista.

En el trance, me he hablado o escrito con el propio Presidente, el Secretario de la Presidencia y el Ministro de Información. Todos han sido amables y eficaces. He tenido también ocasión de recordar tantos gobiernos en el exilio que poblaron el pasado siglo. Y he ahogado alguna sonrisa. De pronto, alguien que se dedica a urdir ficciones sobre la patria –los lectores de Minimal Bildung saben de qué hablo- se encuentra con narración que lo supera.

Hay algo decididamente freak en todo esto. Pero hay también una voluntad de mantener viva la tradición republicana que constituye curioso y tenaz apéndice a la historia de Cuba y de su exilio.

Creo que una buena disposición para leer la entrevista que sigue es la que me ha animado a hacerla a mí mismo: imaginar países soñados es una buena manera de construir -y conjurar- futuros posibles.

Agradezco al Dr. Nodal Tarafa su disposición a someterse al escrutinio de los lectores de El Tono de la Voz.

Entrevista al Dr. Rodolfo Nodal Tarafa, presidente constitucional de la República de Cuba

Jorge Ferrer: Supongo sea conciente de que la investidura de un presidente en el exilio a estas alturas provoca en muchos, por lo menos, estupor. La ceremonia del próximo sábado en Ybor City: ¿Un acto lúdico, una representación teatral o se la toma en serio?

Dr. Rodolfo Nodal Tarafa: Para la gran mayoría de exiliados cubanos militantes y enterados, que han respaldado la Constitución de 1940, así como la Coalición que la representa, formada por la casi totalidad de las instituciones representativas de la República democrática, y el gobierno que de ella emana, el acto de proclamación y jura del nuevo presidente constitucional en el exilio no es mas que la continuación y continuidad del proceso de la instauración de ese gobierno que comenzó en 1995 con la proclamación del primer presidente, que fue el magistrado Dr. Morell Romero, q.e.p.d., y que continuó con la proclamación de su substituto legal constitucional, el Dr. Claudio Benedi, quien debió renunciar por motivos de salud el 21 de Diciembre pasado.

De forma que para quien conozca los hechos, este acto no es de ninguna manera un suceso nuevo y aislado, sino que responde a la voluntad cubana de regresar al estado de derecho democrático y ofrecer para ello la legítima alternativa legal que representa un gobierno producto del mandato constitucional, y que garantice los derechos de todos y conduzca el país hacia la legitimidad celebrando elecciones libres para entregar la dirección del estado al gobierno electo a los 24 meses de haberse hecho cargo de la provisionalidad, con la particularidad de que el presidente provisional no puede ser candidato en las elecciones por disposición de la misma Constitución.

JF: La investidura se basa en el Art. 149 de la Constitución de 1940. ¿Qué fundamento de derecho lo habilita concretamente a usted para ser investido según lo que establece dicho artículo?

Dr. NT: El ex-presidente doctor Benedi siguiendo los procedimientos señalados por los artículos 180 y 149 de la Constitución escogió al magistrado que debería ocupar la posición de sucesor a la presidencia de una terna de juristas que le sometió el Consejo Asesor Jurídico de la Coalición Constitucional. La persona seleccionada a principios de 2007 fue el que subscribe y por ello se produjo la substitución constitucional automática a la renuncia del presidente anterior.

JF: La mayoría de los «gobiernos en el exilio» que conoció el s. XX se dedicaron fundamentalmente a denunciar a los gobiernos establecidos en sus países de origen y a trazar planes de recuperación del poder. Otros trabajaron en el diseño de planes de reconstrucción democrática imaginando el retorno. ¿En qué perspectiva se sitúa Coalición Constitucional?

Dr. NT: El equipo de gobierno que presidimos, formado por cubanos de destacada trayectoria de militancia patriótica, calibre intelectual y experiencia profesional, se proyecta en ambas direcciones: hacer conocer al mundo la verdadera situación del pueblo cubano bajo la gastada tiranía, y a la vez fomentar el cambio hacia la democracia legítima y el estado de derecho en Cuba mediante la presión de la acción de rebeldía popular y el reconocimiento y respaldo de gobiernos e importantes instituciones democráticas del mundo, especialmente del mundo occidental. En este sentido, se adelantan gestiones ya con resultados positivos, que esperamos muy pronto habrán de conocerse públicamente, y que están dirigidas también a hacer saber a los militantes de intramuros del respaldo con que contarán al producirse el cambio a través de su gobierno constitucional.

JF: ¿En qué medida representará su gobierno al exilio cubano?

Dr. NT: Nuestro gobierno es producto de la decisión soberana de la casi totalidad de las instituciones que representan la dirección democrática de la República de Cuba, expresada en declaraciones escritas al comienzo del proceso de instauración del Gobierno en el Exilio y la Coalición Constitucional, como son los Municipios de Cuba en el Exilio, La Junta Patriótica Cubana, colegios profesionales encabezados por los Notarios y los Abogados, organizaciones Obreras, políticas, cívicas, beligerantes, culturales, etc., o sea, la representación de las clases vivas que constituyeron la dirección del país antes del advenimiento de la tiranía gangsteril comunista.

JF: ¿En qué medida representará a los cubanos que viven en la isla?

Dr. NT: Como es sabido, los cubanos de intramuros tienen poca oportunidad de manifestarse de manera organizadamente democrática, y solo unos pocos favorecidos por los medios de prensa en el exterior, suelen expresar sus posiciones. La Constitución de 1940 y la Coalición que la representa han recibido concretamente el respaldo expreso de patriotas de intramuros como el doctor Biscet y de Héctor Palacios, presidente del Partido Liberal, quien recientemente ha tenido una destacada labor de difusión internacional a favor de Cuba libre en el continente europeo.

JF: ¿Qué tipo de interlocución mantiene con las organizaciones políticas del exilio cubano?

Dr. NT: Consideramos a todas las organizaciones políticas cubanas, con excepción de las comunistas que han violado la constitución y oprimido al pueblo cubano, como parte del espectro político democrático que podrá desenvolverse en libertad durante la provisionalidad. En ese sentido, hemos hecho un llamado a todas ellas sin distinción de credos para que sin obstaculizar sus particulares esfuerzos por la causa de la libertad, se coordinen con el gobierno constitucional para mayor efectividad de todos, y contamos con la participación y apoyo de las organizaciones políticas beligerantes de mayor predicamento dentro del país por sus acciones y que estarán representadas en el acto de proclamación que se efectuara en el Parque José Martí en Tampa el próximo sábado 29 de Marzo del 2007 a las 12 del mediodía.

JF: ¿Ha informado del acto de investidura a las organizaciones opositoras dentro de la isla?

Dr. NT: Se ha dado a conocer directamente y a través de medios electrónicos de TV, radio e internet. Este viernes entre las 10 y las 11 AM compareceré en el popular programa de TV del canal 19 y/o 99 dirigido por el conocido periodista Tomás García Fuste, y explicaré al público de Miami y Cuba el acto y su significación. También el Domingo 30 de Marzo en el conocido programa de TV "En una hora" que dirige el periodista León del Valle, por el Canal 8 GEN TV a las 6 PM.

JF: Los «gobiernos en el exilio» han sido una práctica bastante común de los exilios. Todos ellos han buscado vías de interlocución con otros gobiernos para conseguir sus propósitos políticos y financiamiento. ¿Cuáles son sus expectativas en ese sentido? ¿Ha establecido ya contactos con otros gobiernos de la región?

Dr. NT: Trabajamos a nombre y en representación del pueblo de Cuba para conseguir lo que la pregunta señala. Y hemos establecido contactos con diferentes gobiernos en gestiones en procura del legítimo reconocimiento oficial que nos corresponde y que se adelantan a través de las gestiones de nuestros funcionarios diplomáticos y representación en otros países, como es el caso de los de los continentes europeo e iberoamericano.

JF: ¿Qué tipo de reconocimiento internacional buscará su gobierno y por qué vías?

Dr. NT: Reconocimiento oficial de gobierno a gobierno a través de relaciones diplomáticas.

JF: ¿Cómo quedará estructurado el gobierno?

Dr. NT: Por mensaje separado el Ministro de la Presidencia le hará llegar el organigrama actual de la estructura de gobierno.

JF: ¿Qué motivó a posponer el acto de investidura, previsto inicialmente para el pasado sábado 22 de marzo?

Dr. NT: Evitar la coincidencia con las fechas religiosas que dificultarían la asistencia al acto, según me indico la comisión organizadora.

JF: Imaginemos que hubiera una aduana a la entrada de Ybor City cuando usted llegue para el acto de investidura y que el aduanero le preguntara el motivo de su visita con la disyuntiva «Business or pleasure?» Si tuviera que atenerse a esa estrecha clasificación migratoria, ¿qué respondería?

Dr. NT: Neither, sir... Simplemente, deber patriótico.

De contra:

Proclama emitida por el Dr. Rodolfo Nodal Tarafa con motivo de su designación.

AL ASUMIR LA PRESIDENCIA CONSTITUCIONAL DE LA REPUBLICA
(en el exilio y para el período constitucional de la futura provisionalidad)

por Dr. Rodolfo Nodal Tarafa, Presidente Constitucional de la República de Cuba y de la Coalición Constitucional 1940

Con motivo de las renuncia a la presidencia de la república por motivos de salud que venía desempeñando esa gran figura cubana que es el Dr. Claudio Benedi Beruff, jurista, economista e insigne patriota que ha dedicado su vida a la causa de la libertad de nuestra patria, y después de un proceso en que por recomendación unánime del Consejo Asesor Legal de la Coalición Constitucional 1940 presidida por el ilustre y respetado jurista y destacadísima personalidad cubana, el Dr. Armando J. Bucelo, fui nombrado por el entonces presidente Dr. Benedi para ocupar la magistratura en el Tribunal Supremo de Justicia que me colocaría en el orden directo de la sucesión presidencial en cumplimiento del articulo 140 de nuestra soberana Carta Magna, lo que ahora se ha convertido en realidad a partir del 21 de Diciembre del pasado año 2007. Así al comienzo casi de lo que es de esperarse que sea el último año de la fatídica y destructora tiranía castrista, me ha tocado asumir el manto de la grave representación y difícil función de presidir la república como jefe del gobierno provisional que se instale en nuestra capital cuando se restaure la vigencia plena de la ley fundamental de la república, la constitución de 1940, con todos sus artículos, (y con la sola excepción de aquellos que no sean aplicables por impedimento físico) único ordenamiento legal del estado decidido por el pueblo cubano en elecciones libres, y nunca abrogado ni modificado legalmente, y solo suspendida su vigencia por la fuerza durante el período de la tiranía comunista.

Es con la humildad que impone tamaña responsabilidad y solemne investidura que me propongo desempeñar las labores de dirección y representación de nuestra nación, imprimiéndole dinamismo al proceso de hacer valer el respeto a nuestra constitución como la única solución que nos garantiza el regreso al estado de derecho democrático y a la libertad a todos los cubanos.

Por ello ahora como Presidente Constitucional de la República exhorto a todos los compatriotas verdaderamente bien nacidos, a las instituciones cívicas y patrióticas formadas por las clases vivas y la sociedad civil de la nación que forman en la Coalición Constitucional 1940: organizaciones obreras, municipios, colegios profesionales, industriales, ganaderos, colonos, hacendados, instituciones patrióticas, culturales, estudiantiles y cívicas como la Junta Patriótica Cubana, y de combate como los Comandos F4 y los Hijos de Bayamo, a respaldar ACTIVAMENTE y a declarar específica e inequívocamente ese respaldo a las gestiones del gobierno provisional en el exilio, en donde resulta necesario emprender sin más demora la formación del Consejo Legislativo Asesor en ausencia de un congreso electo y formado por representantes de todas las clases y actividades de nuestra república democrática, la reorganización del poder judicial, indispensable para la administración de justicia democrática, mediante el reclutamiento de los juristas cubanos que estén dispuestos a servir como jueces, fiscales, y magistrados durante la futura provisionalidad, la organización de la recaudación para la hacienda publica y el financiamiento de las funciones del gobierno, como las representaciones ante gobiernos democráticos extranjeros y entidades internacionales, y la divulgación de la existencia y gestión del gobierno constitucional cubano desde el exterior, etc., y mucho más que compete a la gestión del gobierno legítimo que constituye la alternativa legal y moral a la tiranía por sus credenciales constitucionales.

Por último como presidente hago un llamado especial y urgente a los medios de prensa cubanos en el exterior, a directores de radio, televisión y prensa escrita, a los periodistas independientes de cualquier medio, y a todos aquellos que tratan en la prensa sobre el tema de nuestra patria, a que dejando a un lado diferencias del pasado si las hubiere, eleven su espíritu patriótico para formar entre quienes le dan su respaldo inequívoco a la constitución y al gobierno de TODOS los cubanos, en cumplimiento del sagrado mandato constitucional, y en la seguridad de que el presidente de la república conducirá la gestión de gobierno desde el exilio, y durante los cortos 24 meses de la provisionalidad, con absoluta imparcialidad política, con respeto por los derechos de todos, instituciones y personas, como presidente de TODOS los cubanos que somos, y los exhorto PUBLICAMENTE a acercarse a nosotros para coordinar esfuerzos unitarios bajo el mandato de nuestra constitución.

Dado en Miami, Florida, Estados Unidos de América, el 11 de Enero de 2008.

Publicado en: El Tono de la Voz | Actualizado 25/03/2008 16:08

Muchas empresas extranjeras tendrán que abandonar la Isla

viernes 21 de marzo de 2008 18:00:00

Se reducirán las firmas extranjeras en Cuba

"El número de representaciones comerciales extranjeras que operan en Cuba se reduciría drásticamente como parte de la nueva política económica del gobierno de Raúl Castro, más interesado en priorizar las inversiones de mayor capital y estimular la producción nacional".

"El Ministerio de Comercio Exterior (MINCEX) ha elaborado un listado con alrededor de 160 firmas extranjeras que no podrían realizar transacciones comerciales dentro de la isla, lo que equivale a una probable anulación de sus licencias por falta de operatividad…".

"Se calcula que más de 3.000 empleados cubanos que trabajan para compañías extranjeras podrían verse afectados".

"La medida está limitando la gestión de numerosas representaciones comerciales que habitualmente proveían de alimentos, bebidas y otros insumos a entidades nacionales para ventas minoristas en divisas…".

"De hecho, la carencia de productos en las cadenas de tiendas en divisas se ha incrementado desde comienzos de este año, al parecer como consecuencia de la disminución de compras a las firmas extranjeras…".

"De acuerdo con orientaciones del MINCEX, las empresas nacionales deben restringir sus compras a representaciones comerciales extranjeras hasta nuevo aviso".

"Entre las firmas incluidas en la moratoria del MINCEX estarían Cabrera y Pérez (España), que vende platos y cubiertos desechables; Comercial Whitehorn (España), de bebidas y alimentos; Alimentarias Leguri (Italia) y Pinturas Doal (México)…".

"…CIMEX —el mayor consorcio empresarial cubano— realizó en La Habana una ronda de compra con proveedores nacionales y entidades especializadas en comercio minorista, a comienzos de este mes".

"El objetivo fundamental de la convocatoria de CIMEX fue conseguir que las producciones nacionales estén representadas en más del 60 por ciento de la mercancía comercializada por esa corporación, abogando para que la meta sea emulada por otras empresas afines del país".

"Durante el evento, el presidente de CIMEX, Eduardo Bencomo Zurdo, dijo que para disminuir la escasez de suministros 'es imprescindible que la industria nacional participe más en las tiendas', con el aliciente de reducir las importaciones".

"'Me parece un proyecto irrealizable', comentó el economista Carmelo Mesa Lago, Profesor Emérito de la Universidad de Pittsburgh. 'Si los propios economistas cubanos reconocen que ha habido un proceso de desindustrialización y descapitalización, si la autosuficiencia alimentaria del país no ha conseguido volver a los niveles de 1989, ¿de dónde piensan sacar los productos que piensan comercializar en el mercado interno?'…".

"En cuanto a la inversión extranjera, las prioridades parecen enfiladas a grandes capitales y sectores estratégicos para el país, con especial interés en compañías de China, Venezuela y Rusia…".

El Nuevo Herald, Miami, Estados Unidos
20 de marzo de 2008

Educadores molestos por nombramiento de cubanos

"El profesor Luis Valdés denunció que docentes cubanos de Educación Física, entraron al país con la intención de trabajar en programas de verano destinados al área de recreación y cultura, pero una vez iniciado el calendario escolar 2008, se encuentran que están laborando en planteles públicos en detrimento de los docentes nacionales".

"Según Valdés son aproximadamente 96 técnicos cubanos que arribaron al país a través de un convenio de Cuba y Pandeportes".

"Estudiantes de la Escuela de Educación Física y profesionales de esta rama, anunciaron que se encuentran en estado de alerta, y la próxima semana podrían estar tomando medidas de presión para defender sus puestos de trabajo".

Panactual, Panamá
21 de marzo de 2008

Cuba facilita la venta de medicamentos

Imprimir | Cerrar esta ventana

25 de Marzo de 2008, EXCLUSIVA

Por Rosa Tania Valdés

LA HABANA (Reuters) - Cuba aflojó las reglas para la venta de medicamentos y permitió su compra en cualquier farmacia del país, en una nueva señal de que el presidente Raúl Castro sigue eliminando "prohibiciones" estatales, dijeron el martes fuentes del sector.

Hasta este mes lo cubanos tenían que comprar medicamentos recetados por su médico en la farmacia de su barrio, una medida de control adoptada durante la profunda crisis post-soviética de la década pasada para distribuir mejor los escasos recursos .

"Había muchas quejas de la población. Cuando no teníamos el medicamento había que desviar al paciente a otra farmacia, previo trámite, y la gente perdía mucho tiempo," dijo la administradora de una farmacia en el centro de La Habana.

"Ahora, nos dijeron que tenemos que atender a todos los pacientes. Lo que quieren es que la gente no esté molesta," añadió.

Raúl Castro, quien sucedió a su convaleciente hermano Fidel Castro el mes pasado, se ha comprometido en eliminar el "exceso de prohibiciones" en Cuba, donde el Estado domina la economía.

La proliferación de reglamentos ha generado un mercado negro, entre otras ilegalidades reconocidas por el propio gobierno, incluso para los medicamentos.

"Ahora, los que se hacían ricos revendiendo medicinas tendrán que buscar otra vía porque nadie va a gastar dinero si el medicamento lo tiene a la mano, esté dónde esté," dijo Regina, una jubilada de 75 años mientras compraba un fármaco para tratarse una úlcera.

A pocas semanas de asumir la presidencia en febrero, Raúl Castro ha comenzado ha tomar pequeñas medidas para eliminar reglas absurdas y hacer mas eficiente el socialismo cubano.

"En diciembre hablé del exceso de prohibiciones y regulaciones, y en las próximas semanas comenzaremos a eliminar las más sencillas," dijo ante el Parlamento que lo eligió el 24 de febrero.

En las últimas semanas fue liberada la venta minorista de computadoras, reproductores de DVD y otros electrodomésticos hasta ahora prohibidos.

La pasada semana, Reuters reportó que el Gobierno liberará también el acceso de los agricultores a insumos necesarios para elevar la producción de alimentos.

Aunque las medidas no han sido anunciadas oficialmente, Granma, el periódico del gobernante Partido Comunista, dijo que podría incluso levantarse la prohibición de que los cubanos se alojen en hoteles reservados hasta ahora para los extranjeros.

Muchos cubanos esperan, además, la revaluación del peso con que el Estado paga los salarios frente al peso convertible, 24 veces más fuerte, en que son vendidos los productos importados.

(Reporte de Rosa Tania Valdés; Editada por Esteban Israel)